5 Legit Business Ideas for Moms You Can Start to Earn $5,000+ Monthly

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Last Updated on December 13, 2020 by Rebecca Lake

Are you looking for some profitable business ideas for moms you can start to bring in extra income?

I hear ya!

There are so many great reasons to start a business from home.

You can make money while still being available for your kids.

It’s a way to be creative and do work that you enjoy while working a schedule that fits your lifestyle.

There’s practically unlimited earning potential since there are so many amazing home business ideas for moms you can try!

Making money from home is one of the best things ever, especially if you’re a mom. Once you get over the initial hump and things start to click, running an at-home business can be a life-changer. 

Because who wants to stay stuck working a job outside the home that they don’t love?

Or be constantly stressed about your finances?

Or have to deal with mom guilt because your job means less time to spend with your kids?

Know what I say to all that? Nah.

Exploring home business ideas for moms has given me an insane amount of freedom and it can do the same for you. 

It’s allowed me to continue homeschooling my kids as a single mom, travel when it fits our schedule and make a comfortable income doing something I’m good at. 

Are you sold on the idea of being your own boss yet?

I hope so!

Now comes the hard part: deciding what kind of business is right for you.

Fortunately, there are TONS of options.

To help you out, I’ve got some recommendations for the best home business ideas for moms. And I promise they’re 100% legit!

high paying business ideas for moms

5 Lucrative Home Business Ideas for Moms to Make Real Money

1. Get Paid to Write

woman looking at laptop

Want to hear something crazy?

There are 57 million Americans who freelance in the U.S. and the most highly skilled ones make more money per hour than 70% of the traditional workforce.

The freelance economy has grown in a big way and I’m so happy to be a part of it. I’ve managed to grow what started as a side hustle into a business that earns multiple six figures a year.

According to PayScale, the average annual pay for freelance writers ranges from just over $21,000 at the low-end to $106,982 at the high-end.

But what does it take to become a successful freelance writer? A few things:

Decent writing chops

You don’t have to be Shakespeare to freelance but you can’t be completely in the dark about how to put a solid sentence together either.

The great thing about freelancing is that a lot of it’s learned as you go, so the more you write, the better you get.

I’ve been freelancing full-time since 2014 and I’m still honing my craft day in and day out. Grammarly is one of my go-to tools for improving my writing.

The #1 Writing Tool

Solid samples to show off to would-be clients

It’s really hard to break into freelance writing if you don’t have a portfolio to show that you can write. That may seem like a huge obstacle to overcome when you’re just starting out. 

Fortunately, building up a decent stable of clips is easier than you might think.

Starting a blog, for example, gives you a chance to sharpen your writing skills. It’s also a way to show off your knowledge in a specific area, which brings me to #3.

A profitable niche

In my freelancing infancy, I wrote about anything as long as I got paid. (I know more than I care to about solar panels and golf from using that approach.)

But being a generalist isn’t always the best choice when you’re trying to build a business and a brand. If you want to make great money as a freelance writer, niches are where it’s at. 

Uhh…but what’s a niche? That’s easy. It’s a specialized area of the market you target with your writing.

My niche, for example, is finance. I cover personal finance topics like credit, debt, budgeting and investing, but I also write about small business finance.

Personal finance is one of the most popular niches and it’s also one of the better-paying ones. Some other highly-valued niches include:

  • Business
  • Digital marketing
  • Health and fitness
  • Parenting
  • Tech

That’s a shortlist and there are virtually endless options for choosing a niche. The key is to think about what you’re knowledgeable about and what you’re interested in. 

And don’t pick a niche that bores you just because it pays well. That’s a fast track to burnout.

If you need help choosing a niche, check out my FREE freelance writing starter course!

It’s a great intro to freelance writing if it’s on your shortlist of home business ideas for moms.

Where do you find freelance writing jobs?

Great question!

One of my favorite ways to find freelance writing jobs when I was just getting started was job boards. That’s where you can find all sorts of freelance writing gigs that will pay you real money to write!

If you’re looking for some job board suggestions, here are my absolute faves:

You might also like:

How to Start Freelance Writing and Make Your First $100

9 Amazing Benefits of Freelancing for the Stay at Home Mom

23 High-Paying Freelance Services Moms Can Offer From Home

2. Become a Virtual Assistant

woman on a laptop

If writing’s not your thing, don’t sweat it. There are plenty of other home business ideas for moms you can try. 

For example, you may be better suited to launching a virtual assistant business instead. Salary-wise, the average hovers between $20,000 and $62,000 a year.

So what’s a virtual assistant?

It’s like being an administrative assistant, only you’re doing all your tasks online instead of in an office. 

And just what does a virtual assistant do? It’s really up to you — and what the kind of clients you’re targeting need.

Before I got into freelancing, I worked as a virtual assistant for about a year for a local VA company. The company’s clients included a real estate agency, a commercial real estate agency, a construction company and a church.

As a VA, I did things like:

  • Writing press releases and marketing copy for email autoresponder sequences
  • Updating church bulletins
  • Creating and updating flyers for Multiple Listing Service
  • Data entry using Excel
  • Coordinating updates to clients’ social media accounts

That barely touches the surface of what VAs can do in their daily round. As profitable home business ideas go, this one’s good if you’re great at multitasking. (And as a mom, who isn’t?)

You might spend your days scheduling blog content, answering emails, transcribing podcasts, ghostwriting, researching blog posts, answering phone calls or doing loads of other tasks. 

But what kind of skills do you need to start a VA business? 

Social media savvy

According to a Clutch survey, 76% of businesses are using social media to promote their brand. Social media is highly visible, making it a gold mine for businesses to attract new clients.

You don’t have to be social media certified to be a VA but you do need to know your Twitter from your Insta.

(If you’ve got the social media skills to pay the bills, skip on down to the next business idea on the list to learn how you can turn that into an online business of its own.)

Rock-solid time management skills

Being a VA is often a lot more fast-paced than being a freelance writer. You might have a lot of lead time for certain tasks but you might be working under the wire for others.

If you want to start a VA business, you’ve got to be great at juggling lots of different balls at once.

You need to know how to plan and schedule your time for the long-term while being prepared to handle anything that’s thrown at you on a moment’s notice.

A taste for variety

Being a virtual assistant means you never get tired of doing the same things over and over. If you’re okay with no two workdays being alike, it could be your perfect online business fit. 

That brings us to the real question: how do you become a virtual assistant?

In my case, I kind of fell into it so I don’t consider myself an expert.

If you want to get all the deets from a VA guru, head to Horkey Handbook and read Gina’s post, “Everything You Need to Know About How to Become a Virtual Assistant. 

3. Be a Social Media Manager

woman using a phone

Social media is everywhere these days. Businesses need someone to handle all the tweeting and posting that’s necessary to make their brands visible.

That’s where a social media manager comes in. 

Social media managers do all the behind-the-scenes stuff to keep their company’s social media feeds up to date. This is one of the home business ideas for moms you might try if you’re naturally social or you’ve got a talent for marketing. 

And social media managers get paid a pretty penny for their services. PayScale puts the average salary for social media gurus at $48,000 year but the majority are making closer to $75,000 annually.

So what kind of skills do you need?

Copywriting

Copywriting is highly valued in social media marketing.

Essentially, what you’re writing is sales copy to attract new customers to the brand. You have to be able to write persuasively and concisely using the brand’s voice. 

Research skills

The thing about social media is that there’s always something new trending.

As a social media manager, you need to be able to stay on top of what the next big thing is.

Being able to research trending or newsy topics and craft attention-grabbing updates on the fly is a must.

Social media know-how

Duh, of course, you need to know your way around social media.

Specifically, you need to have an understanding of how each channel works, which outlets your client’s target customers frequent and what kind of content appeals to the most.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a firm grasp of social media scheduling tools either. 

4. Get Paid to Teach Online

woman teaching online

Teaching online is one of my favorite business ideas for moms because it’s something just about any mom can do, no experience needed.

I know some moms who teach English with VIPKID, for example. They’re making money to help support their families and teaching kids a valuable skill.

So what do you need to teach online, aside from a laptop and internet?

Really, it all comes down to one thing: knowing what you want to teach. Because there are so many different ways to teach online.

You could…

  • Teach English with VIPKID
  • Offer online tutoring services
  • Create and sell a course through an online platform like Skillshare or Teachable
  • Become an online teacher with Outschool

That last one is my favorite. And if you don’t know what Outschool is, it’s an online learning site for kids K-12.

Teachers can sign up with Outschool and offer live classes on just about any subject. The average Outschool teacher makes $35/hour, according to their website.

But since you decide how much to charge for classes and how many classes to teach, you could easily make more than that. And it’s the same if you’re offering classes through Skillshare or Teachable.

You’re in charge of what you make, which is why it’s one of the best business ideas for moms if you don’t have a lot of time to spare.

If you’re interested in getting started as an Outschool teacher, head here to sign up!

5. Start a Money-Making Blog

hands on a laptop

Blogging can easily be one of the most profitable home business ideas for moms. But it’s more of a long game and it can take time to start cranking out a profit. 

How do you make money blogging?

Another great question! There are five main ways to make money with a blog:

  • Sponsored posts
  • Ads
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Selling digital products
  • Selling a service

Sponsored posts involve writing a post based around another company’s product or service. You’re essentially being paid to promote them to your blog audience.

I haven’t tried this with my blog yet but it’s on my goals list.

Including ads on your blog is a popular choice for making money, especially among newer bloggers. The trick is getting enough traffic to get onto a premium ad network.

For example, my blog runs ads from Monumetric, which requires at least 10,000 monthly page views to qualify. My big blog goal is to get enough pageviews for Mediavine, which is a rung up on the ad network ladder. 

Affiliate marketing is another way to make money blogging. Basically, it means recommending other company’s products or services but it’s less direct than sponsored posts.

The idea is that you include links to products you love and swear by in your posts. If someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you get a commission from the sale.

What if you’d rather promote your products or services?

That’s another great way to make money. You could offer things like: 

  • Ebooks
  • Digital or physical planners
  • E-courses
  • Workbooks
  • Membership in a mastermind group
  • Blogging or freelance writing services
  • Consulting or coaching services

It all depends on what skills you have, who your audience is and which product or service you believe holds the most value for your loyal blog followers.

How to Start a Blog and Make Money

As far as skills go, anyone can become a blogger. There are more than 440 million blogs in the world counting, and millions of new blog posts have hit the web since you started reading this post.

To be a blogger, you just need a domain name and hosting to get started. 

(For step by step instructions on how to get your blog up and running, head over to this post to read my Ultimate Guide to Starting a Blog. Or check out Siteground now to get your blogging career started!)

But it takes a little more than that to be a blogger who grows their audience and uses their platform to make a full-time living. If you want to try blogging as one of your home business ideas for moms, you’ll need: 

An audience

You can write amazing blog posts all day long but it won’t matter if no one’s reading them.

Before you dive into blogging, you need to spend some time thinking about who you’re writing for.

The goal is to create an avatar or persona that reflects your ideal reader.

You should have a clear vision of who your target is, what problems they need help solving and what solutions you can offer.

Something your readers will value

People read blogs because they want to learn something or solve a problem.

For example, you’re reading this post because you want to know how you can quit your soul-crushing job and start a money-making business or side hustle.

If you want a blog, you need to have something to offer your audience.

What problems can you solve, what can you help them with? These are the questions you have to be able to answer if you want to attract blog readers and turn them into customers.

Personality

Blogging involves a lot of writing but there’s more to it than that. Your personality has to be able to shine through in everything you do and without it, your blog may fall flat.

Think about what makes you who you are. What sets you apart?

How do your friends, family members or coworkers see you? How can you communicate who you are and what your personality’s like in your blog?

Remember, focus on your style. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

In the end, what you put out into the world through your blog should be an honest reflection of your best and most authentic self.

Patience

Honestly, this may be the single most important quality a blogger needs to succeed.

Blogging is a slow process at times, especially when you’re trying to build an audience and establish your brand. 

So you have to be patient because there’s a LOT of groundwork that has to be laid at the beginning. I don’t know of any blogger who went from unknown to influencer overnight.

In other words, blogging is one of the business ideas for moms that might require you to be the tortoise for a while, instead of the hare. 

Investing in some solid blogging education is important if you want your blog to be a success. Here are some of my favorite blogs about blogging to read for tips on growing traffic and making money:

You can also learn a ton by joining Facebook groups related to blogging. Check out my favorite Facebook groups for bloggers to grow blog traffic!

You’ll also need some tools to get started–you can see my favorite blog and biz tools here. Or, you can check out what Sasha at Everyday She’s Sparkling has inside the Blogger’s Glitterati VIP Hub.

glitterati hub

Inside, you’ll find a complete suite of amazingly useful tools to help you get your blog up and running!

home business ideas for moms

Got some favorite business ideas for moms to share?

Starting an online business takes some serious hard work but being a boss can change your life!

Now it’s your turn — what kind of home business ideas for moms do you recommend?

Head to the comments and tell me about it, then pin and share this post if it helped you!

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About Rebecca Lake

Rebecca Lake is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance, freelance writer and homeschooling single mom of two. Since 2014, she's paid off nearly $100,000 in debt and grown her net worth to seven figures. Her work has appeared online at top personal finance websites, including Forbes Advisor, Bankrate, Investopedia, The Balance, CreditCards.com and U.S. News & World Report. Find out more.